Use Messages

Messages is a chat-based communication and collaboration platform. You can chat with your clients, freelancers, and team members in real time or have the conversation waiting for them when they come online.

You can view your conversations in two formats. There's a recency/unread view and also a categorized view for you to see your favorites, interviews, rooms, and people.

All your messages will be saved in the "room" that you have a conversation in. A "room" contains all the conversations you've had with a particular person (or group of people).

Email notifications of messages are sent to the email account you have registered with Upwork by default. You can reply to Upwork Messages from these email notifications. If you don't wish to receive email notifications, click on the Settings gear icon (top right corner) and click on Notifications.

You can attach files or link to your Dropbox account from within your Upwork Messages. Just click the paperclip icon in the message box to add.

You can take and attach a screenshot from within the Upwork desktop app.

Take notes directly in a personal notepad while chatting. Access your notes any time by clicking on this icon. Your notes are only visible to you, and are specific to the chatroom.

Shortcuts

Messaging shortcuts

Enter: Sends message

Alt+Enter/Ctrl+Enter/Shift+Enter: Creates new line within message entry box

/giphy [text]: To add an animated GIF in conversation, type /giphy on a new line followed by a keyword or phrase. You’ll see a GIF chooser pop up, and you can click “Shuffle” until you’re happy with the GIF displayed. Pressing “Send” will then display the GIF you’ve chosen in your Upwork Messages room.

Message or Personal Notepad formatting shortcuts

Wrap text in two "**"s or "__"s for bold: **bold** or __bold__

Wrap text in a single "*" or "_"s for italic: *italic* or _italic_

Wrap text in two "~~"s for strikethrough: ~~strikethrough~~

Wrap text in "`"s for single-line codeblocks: `code-block`

Note that no formatting happens within code blocks. This includes URL linking.

Wrap text in "```" for multi-line code blocks (first line must contain just the quotes):```multi-line code block```

How do I create a room?

Only clients can create new rooms. To do this, click the plus sign on the left navigation bar to start a room for any topic and add users as needed (as long as they exist in your address book).

How do I make hitting "enter" create a new line instead of sending the message?

Click on the gear icon in your compose box to change the default behavior of "enter" from sending the message to creating a line break (or back again). Line breaks can also be added by pressing Alt+Enter or Ctrl+Enter or Shift+Enter.

How do I block another user?

There are multiple ways to block a user but the easiest way is to access a room with that user, click on their profile icon, then select Block.

How do I mark a message unread?

To mark a message as unread, click the gear icon to the right of a sent message and select "Mark as Unread."

How do I set an Out of Office message?

Click the gear icon on the top left of your Upwork Messages screen and select "Out-of-Office Responder" in the drop-down menu. Once on the "Out-of-Office Responder" page, toggle the responder on, and set your away message and the start/end dates.

Advanced Search Queries

For queries of just one word, double quotes are not needed. For queries consisting of two or more words, please add quotation marks or the second word won't be included in the search.